A delegation from the Sverdlovsk region visited Vitebsk region as part of the project 'The Train of Memory. Brest 41'

The Urals residents began their journey through our country with the Brest Fortress. Then came Grodno, Minsk, and last weekend – Vitebsk and Orsha, which became the final point of the route.

Among the guests are four participants of Operation Bagration, who liberated Belarus, former concentration camp prisoners, children of war, and descendants of those who died defending our country, as well as enthusiasts involved in restoring the memory of fallen and missing countrymen.

As reported by the Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Council of Veterans, Sergey Olsevich, in addition to the 55 names submitted by the Sverdlovsk residents for the search of burial places of their countrymen, the M. Shmeryov Regional Museum, together with the commission for perpetuating the memory of the Regional Council of Veterans, discovered another 35 names of Urals liberators who died in the Vitebsk region.

– We are pleasantly surprised by how reverently Belarus treats the history of the Great Patriotic War and the preservation of monuments. Thanks to cooperation with the Belarusian side, we are able to establish the places where natives of the Sverdlovsk region are buried and receive capsules with soil from the graves to transfer them to their homeland, – noted the head of the delegation, Yanina Kadochnikova, Chairman of the Commission for Patriotic Education of the Sverdlovsk Regional Council of Veterans.

One of the trip participants is 92-year-old Nikolai Vlasov, who was a radio telegraph operator scout in the Vitebsk region in 1943-1944.

– We gathered information behind enemy lines and transmitted it to the headquarters, – recalls Nikolai Spiridonovich. – Now, as soon as we entered the Vitebsk region, I kept trying to find familiar names of villages where I went on reconnaissance or was a partisan, but everything has changed. And how beautiful Vitebsk has become! And your people are very hospitable. 

After laying flowers at the eternal flame on Victory Square in

A heartfelt meeting between a delegation from the Sverdlovsk region and veterans of Vitebsk took place at the M. Shmyrev Museum. They talked and shared stories about their lives.

In conclusion, People's Artist of Russia Ivan Permyakov performed the songs "Where Are You Now, Fellow Soldiers...", "Ural Rowan Tree," and "Victory Day," which everyone sang along to while standing. However, tears interfered with hitting the right notes – tears of gratitude to the liberators for the present peace and freedom.

Elena ALIMOVA, "Vitebskiye Vesti". Photos by the author.